Acclaimed cook and caterer Mary Ellen Spellman died on March 14 at her Water Mill home after a long battle with cancer and kidney disease. She was 62.
Born February 7, 1952, in Southampton Hospital, she was the youngest child of Paul and Genevieve Sczcepankowski. Raised in Sagaponack, Ms. Spellman went to work with her mother at the family’s boarding house at an early age, cooking and serving notable New Yorkers and prominent local artists. The house on Main Street in Sagaponack is remembered for its hospitality and delicious home-cooked meals.
After attending Appalachian State University, she devoted her life to preparing food. From 1979 to 1995, Ms. Spellman and her husband, Don, started operating the Sagaponack General Store. Ms. Spellman built a reputation for her meatloaf, chicken pot pies, tea cakes and other comfort foods, making the store a must stop for visitors and vacationers. They moved their business briefly to Shelter Island and then back to Bridgehampton, where they operated the Sagaponack Café.
The family moved in 2000 to Malibu, California, where they established Mary’s Kitchen, a deli and gourmet market bringing New England home cooking to the West Coast.
Ms. Spellman returned in 2005 to Southampton, where she became a private chef. Her talent gained her recognition from French Vogue and The New Yorker, The New York Times and Daily News, as well as many local publications. One of her many claims to fame was to have made the last birthday cake for Jacqueline Onassis. There is a forthcoming cookbook titled “Ms. American Pie,” dedicated to Ms. Spellman and written by one of her many appreciative staff. Ms. Spellman was completing her own cookbook at the time of her death.
Her great love of animals drew her to donate to and volunteer for the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons.
She is survived by her children, Jonathan and Genevieve Spellman; her mother, Genevieve Sczcepankowski; and siblings, Janet Dodge, Barbra Khatib and Paul Sczcepankowski; and her husband, Don.
Memorial donations may be made to the Cancer Services Program of Eastern Suffolk County, c/o Peconic Bay Medical Center, 1300 Roanoke Avenue, Riverhead, NY 11901; The Peconic Land Trust, www.peconiclandtrust.org; or the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, www.arfhamptons.org.
Memorial services are pending.
on Mar 17, 2014